The Impact of Affirmative Action on College Admissions
Publication Date: July 6, 2023
The discussion around affirmative action in the United States has been renewed following the Supreme Court’s decision to end the consideration of race in admissions for public and private universities. This decision comes at a time when the nation is rapidly diversifying, with less than half of children under the age of 15 identifying as white. No one can know exactly how the end of affirmative action will affect the racial makeup of these universities’ student bodies. However, research indicates that California, which banned admissions based on race in its public universities in the late 1990s, provides some insights into this issue.
After the ban on affirmative action, the proportion of Black, Latino, and Native American students attending selective colleges in the state dropped significantly, according to research. While the implementation of race-neutral policies after a few years did somewhat accommodate the same underrepresented groups, these numbers remain far below previous levels.
Science News spoke with economist Zachary Bleemer from Princeton University, who has spent years studying what happened in California. “I think the ban on affirmative action in California is as close as we have to a reasonable test of what will happen at the national level,” he says.
Criticisms Surrounding Affirmative Action
Publication Date: July 6, 2023
Affirmative action faces public criticism for two main reasons. The first reason is fairness; people believe it is unfair to provide admissions advantages to students based on an inherent characteristic. For this reason, even in California, a liberal state, affirmative action lost a statewide referendum in 1996 by a 10-point margin, and when it returned to the ballot in 2020, it lost by a 14-point margin, notably losing among Latino voters, who benefit from affirmative action. Thus, this policy is generally unpopular.
The second criticism is the concern that affirmative action may not actually benefit the individuals it is supposed to help. The “mismatch” hypothesis suggests that even if Black and Latino students are given the opportunity to attend more selective universities, they may struggle. They might not be able to compete with their peers in rigorous coursework. They may have difficulty majoring in selective university programs. They may be more likely to drop out.
As an economist, I was very interested in whether this was true on average, whether affirmative action benefits or imposes costs on the targeted Black and Latino students. The simple truth is that the “mismatch” hypothesis is not true on average. Black and Latino students gain substantial advantages from attending more selective universities. These advantages include an increase in their likelihood of obtaining degrees, including degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and an increase in wages during their third and fourth decades of life.
The Effect of Ending Affirmative Action in California on Public Universities
Publication Date: July 6, 2023
California was an interesting natural experiment. There were many students who would not typically have been accepted into selective universities but were admitted due to affirmative action. Then there were the students who suddenly lost the opportunity to attend those universities when California banned affirmative action in 1998. What happened to the students who turned 18 in the year before they could benefit from the state’s previous policies?
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In my research, I found three main things. The first is that banning affirmative action policies leads to a sharp decline in the number of Black and Hispanic students at non-selective colleges, with a greater drop at more selective universities. This then results in long-term negative outcomes for Black and Hispanic students in terms of lower graduation rates and lost wages. The third finding is that this decline in outcomes for Black and Hispanic students is not offset by equal gains for white and Asian students who replace them.
Race-Neutral Alternatives to Attract Diverse Students to Universities
Publication Date: July 6, 2023
Are there race-neutral alternatives to attract diverse students to universities? One of these alternatives is the top percentage policy, which guarantees the admission of a certain number of students coming from the highest levels of high schools in the state. The top percentage policy has been implemented in four states: California, Texas, Florida, and Georgia. The original policy in California was the top 4 percent of students. This policy allowed these students to enroll in all campuses in the University of California system except for UC Berkeley and UCLA.
In very high-performing high schools, the top 4 percent of students may have already gained acceptance to UC Davis or UC Irvine. Therefore, the policy does not significantly impact these schools. In lower-performing preparatory high schools in California—where even the top student in the class struggles to get into UC Irvine or elsewhere—this policy is of great importance.
These policies have increased the number of Black and Hispanic students admitted to UC Irvine, UC Davis, and UC Santa Barbara by about 7 to 8 percent. But in comparison, affirmative action increased the number of Black and Hispanic students in the University of California system by 20 percent. Affirmative action directly targets students based on race, while many of the students admitted because of the top percentage policy are not of Black or Hispanic descent. Therefore, many students who replace them are brought into the universities but do not contribute to the overall diversification of those campuses.
Replacing Affirmative Action with Class-Based Policies
Publication Date: July 6, 2023
Can affirmative action based on race be replaced with class-based policies to maintain diverse student populations? The impact achieved by targeting students based on income has very little effect on the racial composition of universities. Similarly, affirmative action based on race does not increase admission for low-income students.
Consider low-income students who are on the cusp of being admitted to selective universities—students who, if given a chance, will barely pass the barrier. Low-income students who have high enough test scores to get into those universities are mostly not of Black or Hispanic descent.
It really depends on your goal. If your goal is racial diversity, affirmative action based on race is the most impactful. If your goal is social diversity, affirmative action based on class will achieve that.
Holistic Review as an Alternative to Affirmative Action
Publication Date: July 6, 2023
Rather than having a points-based system to determine student admissions to universities, a holistic review can be used as an alternative to affirmative action. The holistic review allows admissions counselors greater flexibility in evaluating applications, as they can consider many factors such as low test scores for students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. Students can be admitted in the holistic review based on their potential rather than solely on their high level of preparedness.
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The universities that adopted holistic review in California saw a 7 percent increase in the number of admitted Black and Hispanic students. Although the holistic review policy is considered less impactful than race-based affirmative action, it still holds significance.
However, if the goal is to increase the number of Black, Native American, and Hispanic students, then race-based affirmative action is much more effective than race-neutral alternatives that have been implemented as substitutes.
Conclusion
Research indicates that the end of affirmative action policies in California has led to a decline in student diversity at universities. Despite the existence of race-neutral alternatives such as the top percentage policy and holistic review, they remain less effective than race-based affirmative action. Therefore, if the aim is to enhance racial diversity in universities, affirmative action is the most effective strategy. Nevertheless, race-neutral alternatives can be utilized to increase social diversity in universities.
Source: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/california-affirmative-action-ban-future
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